Chapter 80 SIBLING SQUABBLE
WILLA’S POV
“Mommy, when is Daddy going to come and visit us? It’s been forever,” Calisto whined, laying himself across my abdomen, making us form a crooked cross on my bed, which the twins had decided should retain its needlessly enormous size.
“It’s only been two weeks,” I said, reaching down to pat Calisto’s stomach in comfort.
“It’s been forever,” he insisted. “Why does he have to leave anyway? He’s our dad! He’s ours.”
“Yes,” I said slowly, trying to get him off of me as gently as I could. He obligingly budged, wiggling and sliding off my stomach until only his head remained perched on it. “But he is not just your Daddy. He’s also the Alpha King’s son, and he’s-”
“Wait! Really?!” Calisto exclaimed excitedly, jumping up into a sitting position. “Daddy’s the Alpha King’s son?! Does that mean the Alpha King is our Grandpa?”
“We can’t call him Grandpa, Cal.” Gillian chimed in from where she was lying on her back on the floor—a penchant that stubbornly remained unchanged no matter my efforts.
The only thing I managed was to wriggle out an agreement out of her that she could only indulge in her need for floor time for no more than thirty minutes.
Somehow, that one-year-old agreement was still about to be honored for the first time.
Oh, well…
Next to me, Calisto was frowning deeply. “Why not?”
“Because we already have a Grandpa. We just have to think of something else.”
“Like what?” Calisto asked, peering over at his sister from the edge of the bed. “Gramps?”
“He’s the king of all werewolves, Cal. I’m sure he wouldn’t allow us to call him that.”
Calisto pouted and plopped down back on the bed like a starfish.
“But it doesn’t matter,” Gillian suddenly declared, sounding worryingly small. “We wouldn’t even meet him anyway. Daddy’s not coming back.”
This sent a painful twist in my heart, and I immediately sat up on the bed.
I wasn’t banking on having this conversation with the twins when I suggested to spend quiet time for at least thirty minutes.
But here we were.
“Oh, Gil…” I murmured as I quickly left the bed so I could hold my little girl in a hug.
I sat on the floor with my legs folded and crossed, gently tugging Gillian into my arms and making her sit on my right leg. Then, craning my head so I could look at my son who was still on the bed, I said, “Come here, Cal.”
Calisto obeyed with no qualms, likely sensing the melancholic mood of his twin sister. He then took claim on my left leg, sitting on it and resting his side against my front.
“Be honest, Mommy. Is Daddy really going to come back?” Gillian asked, leaning close to me as if seeking my warmth.
“I’m not too sure, sweetheart,” I answered softly. “Maybe something just came up. Maybe he just got busy.”
“So busy he forgot his promise,” Gillian whispered, her lips wobbling and her eyes growing teary.
“Gillian…”
“Did he say anything to you, Mommy?” Calisto asked hopefully. “Through your mind? Like… Like how you can talk to Uncle and Grandpa and Memaw and Pepaw, even though they’re in the manor and we’re here?”
I bit my lower lip, not knowing how to gently break it to them that their father hadn’t kept in touch at all.
Not even through his beloved Zee’s spiritual familiar.
So with a bitter taste in my mouth, I answered truthfully with tender caution lacing my tone. “Oh, love. I’m sorry, but no. I haven’t heard anything from him at all.”
“What about you, Mommy?”
I paused and blinked, not quite following what Calisto was trying to ask. “What about me?”
“Have you tried talking to him? In your mind?”
“I…”
A heavy sigh broke past my lips.
It pained me that every answer I was about to give them would crash every ounce of hope they still had and break their precious little hearts.
And I hated it, and I hated Gallahan more for putting me and the kids through this.
But I had to say something to them. I knew I had to give them the answers, even if they wouldn’t like it. All I could do was soften the blow. So I said, “I can’t do that, love. It’s… Your Daddy’s mind is closed off, so no one could talk to him through the mind link. We wouldn’t be able to reach him.”
“Oh.”
“What if… What if we send him a letter?”
I was about to praise Calisto for his idea, but then Gillian piped in bitterly, “He’s not coming back, Cal.”
“No! He promised he’s staying this time. He said so!” Calisto argued, his volume rising. “We heard him, Gil. Over and over again. He promised! When we were sleeping, he said he wouldn’t leave us anymore. You heard him too, didn’t you? Maybe… Maybe he’s really just busy like Mommy said.”
Gillian sniffed and glared at her twin brother. “Stop it, Cal. We have Mommy. We don’t need Daddy. He’s a liar, and he’s not coming back.”
“No, he will!” Calisto insisted, his voice breaking slightly. “He will. The Damaz Spiel worked, remember?”
What… Did they…
“No, Cal!” Gillian shouted back, sharply piercing my ears with her voice. “The Damaz Spiel was useless. He just stayed the last time because, because it’s his obli, obli-kay-tion.”
“Obligation,” I corrected on instinct, making me bite my tongue so hard in punishment right after.
Because really… It wasn’t the time.
But Gillian didn’t seem to have noticed because she burgeoned on, saying, “He doesn’t love us!”
Oh, dear me.
I was ready to put a word in and cut through the brewing fight before it could blow on our faces, but Calisto was quick to yell at his sister.
“No! You’re wrong!”
Calisto rose to his feet, his chest quickly rising and falling in anger. Tears had begun cascading down his round and plump cheeks that had grown splotchy with pink in his fury.
“When am I ever wrong?” Gillian shouted back. She stood up, squaring up against her brother. But her own salty tears were also relentlessly streaming down her face too.
“Enough, you two,” I said placatingly, holding them by their hand with hopes that my touch could soothe them.
But Calisto didn’t seem to hear a single word I said, nor did he seem to feel my touch. Because he just screamed at the top of his lungs, “You’re always wrong! You’re not smart at all!”
“Stop being a baby!” Gillian shot back, glaring at Calisto through her tears.
“I said enough!” I interjected, my voice ringing sharp and stern.
It never settled well in me whenever I had to use such a voice on the twins, but it worked like a charm in silencing them.
“Oh, my loves,” I said, my voice returning to a gentler tone and a softer volume. “I know you’re upset. But there’s no need to fight.”
“But Gillian is wrong! Tell her she’s wrong! Tell her she’s wrong, Mommy!”
“Shut up, Cal!” Gillian shrieked. “We have Mommy. Who cares about Daddy?”
This remark just aggravated Calisto even further. “I do! I want Daddy! Mommy is not enough!”